It'll all be okay
by goji1995
Summary: Even after the Weirdmageddon has been stopped and Bill has been defeated, the events of the past few days have left their mark. Dipper and Mabel are each relieved that the other is okay, and a few things need to be said.


IT'LL ALL BE OKAY

Dipper wandered aimlessly through the house, still not quite feeling real. He walked all across the shack, taking everything in. It was all still here, still okay. He looked out every window as he passed, taking in the grey, cloudy sky outside.

He enjoyed every second of it, appreciating the feeling of natural light like he never had before. Up until yesterday, the sky had glowed orange like hellfire as a tear in the fabric of reality itself pooled its hateful light upon the town. Dipper shuddered at the memory, so glad to have the sky as it was supposed to be yet again.

The silence still felt unreal as he went through the house. During the chaos of the Weirdmageddon, he thought he would never hear silence again, and now he soaked it up gladly. As he walked, his whole body protested. His ribs and feet ached, his muscles were sore, his head was lightly throbbing, and he felt so tired. But he didn't care. Right now, sleep wasn't on his mind, and the pain he ignored. He just needed to take everything in, to remind himself that everything was okay again, because it didn't feel like it. Not most of the time.

He was amazed to still be alive, to have survived everything and come through it all with his family and friends as the victors. He was half expecting the normalcy to undo itself, to unravel and reveal itself to be a cruel trick of Bill's. Even though he knew this was not the case, he couldn't help but worry about it nonetheless.

He'd adjust with time, he knew, but right now he just didn't quite feel connected to reality. He went, for what must have been the tenth time in the last two hours, to check on his family members. First he peeked into Ford's room, where he saw his restless uncle tossing and turning. Next he went to check on Stan, who was sleeping peacefully, his mouth agape as he snored loudly. Lastly, he made his way up to his and Mabel's room, and he slowly hobbled over to her bed, sitting down at the end of it.

He stared at his sister, mumbling quietly in her sleep. He took in her cuts and bruises, tried to ignore them, failed. Dipper was nearly overwhelmed. All four of them could have died so easily, frankly it was a miracle that any of them were alive, let alone all of them. And he couldn't picture what would have happened, what he would have done, if Mabel hadn't made it. The thought brought back yet more anxiety and guilt. It could all have gone so much worse. But it didn't, he reminded himself. It didn't. Slowly, he got to his feet again and limped out of the room. He gazed back at Mabel one more time, just to reassure himself again.

Then, he made his way downstairs. As he slowly went down, a torrent of rain broke loose, cascading down onto the house. Dipper took in the soothing sound of the rain hitting the roof. It helped to calm his nerves.

He entered the kitchen, took a can of Pitt from the fridge, then made his way to the porch. Here he sat on the couch and opened his can, taking a long gulp of the soda. For a long while, he sat out here in silence, watching the rainfall as he drank. He had always loved the rain, and it soothed him greatly to watch it now.

It reminded him that the world was going to keep on turning the way it always had. The apocalypse was over now, and they were all okay. He ran these thoughts through his head to combat his anxiety, to anchor himself to reality. Finally, he finished his soda, and decided to go back indoors.

Despite feeling restless, he knew he needed to get some more sleep like the others. He didn't go back to his and Mabel's room, but instead to the large yellow armchair in the living room. He felt comforted in this room, perhaps because it was where memories of normalcy and family lay. In here, all it had ever been was himself, Mabel and Stan, sat together as a family watching TV. No paranormal beasts, black magic or demons, just warmth, comfort and family. He lay down on the armchair, covering himself with the blanket he had placed down here the day before. He nestled himself into the warmth of the blanket, his body being enveloped by the comfortable, squishy material of the chair. For a while, he lay there in silence, motionless, his eyes closed, resting but not quite able to sleep.

Then, after an uncertain amount of time, he heard light footsteps coming down the stairs. He recognised the sound as Mabel's. He didn't move, felt too exhausted to move, but he heard her enter the room. Silently, she clambered onto the chair and got under the blanket with her brother. She nestled up close to him and grabbed hold of his shirt with both of her hands, burying her face into his chest. Dipper could feel her trembling through the balled up fists clinging to him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Neither of them spoke, but each was glad for the presence of the other. Dipper felt a great wave of relief, her warmth another comforting reminder that she was okay. For a while, they remained like that, lay together in their silent embrace, clinging to each other like their lives depended on it.

"Dipper", Mabel said quietly, breaking the silence, her voice muffled as she pressed herself against him yet more.

"Mm?" Dipper replied drowsily.

"I… I'm sorry", she mumbled.

Dipper tightened his grasp on her.

"It's not your fault", he said.

"How can you say that?" Mabel said. "You… you know what happened bro. I… I gave that rift thingy to him, handed it right over".

"I don't care", Dipper said truthfully.

"Why?" she said in a tearful voice.

"Because I don't. We're all okay now, that's all that matters".

"But everyone… everyone suffered so much because of me", Mabel continued. "Everyone could have died and it would have all been my fault".

Dipper's heart tightened up. He didn't like to hear his twin in pain like this, and a guilty feeling rose in his chest.

"You didn't even know what it was Mabel", he said. "I… I should never have agreed to keep it a secret, it was such a stupid mistake. Everything went to hell because… because…"

"That doesn't matter", Mabel said. "I shouldn't have given away something that wasn't mine in the first place".

"Why aren't you mad at me for keeping secrets?" Dipper said.

"Because you're my brother. And you're okay. And that's all that matters".

"Well I feel the same to you. I wouldn't care even if you had known what the rift was. Because you're okay now, you're safe, that's all that matters".

Dipper felt a lump forming in his throat, a few tears threatening to leak out.

"But…" Mabel said.

"Please, Mabel, just don't", Dipper said. "We saved the world, we stopped Bill. It's not your fault and I don't blame you. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine".

"What?" Mabel said. "How can you say that. None of this was your fault".

"But I should have told you and Stan. I should never have agreed to keep secrets. All of you could have died".

"Dipper, you have to stop blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault", Mabel said, tears of her own forming in her eyes. "You always do that bro-bro, and you need to stop. Not everything's your fault. Most of the things you blame yourself for aren't your fault. I'm sorry, I should have told you all this way, way sooner. This wasn't your fault Dipper, so don't you dare blame yourself for it the way you always do, because you don't deserve to suffer like that".

"Well, I won't blame myself if you don't blame yourself", Dipper said.

"Deal", Mabel said with a watery chuckle.

"It's settled then", Dipper said.

"But there's more I need to say. Dipdop, I… I'm so sorry, for all the teasing and stuff. I should have apologised for it so much sooner, and it really hurt you and I'm just so sorry".

"I don't care about that", Dipper said truthfully. Right now, he couldn't care less. At this moment in time, he didn't care about anything other than the fact that Mabel was here. Not unharmed, but alive, and okay. He didn't want to think for a second about if he had lost her. He never wanted to think about that, and it hurt so badly to think it had come so close to happening.

"How can you say that?" Mabel said, her breath hitching a little.

"Because it's true", Dipper said. "You're okay, that's all that matters anymore, all that's ever mattered. I couldn't care less about that stuff, because I love you more than anything in the world Mabel, and if I had lost you… I… I don't even know how I would have lived without you".

Dipper's resistance broke, and he burst into tears, sobbing into the top of his sister's head.

"I nearly lost you Mabel".

"And I nearly lost you", Mabel replied, breaking out into sobs along with her brother.

"Let's j-just be glad it's over", Dipper said.

"Y-yeah" Mabel said. Then she burst out into half-laugh, half-sobs. "L-look at us", she said. "We're a mess".

Dipper chuckled along with her, glad to finally be feeling some levity. Slowly, their sobbing died down until their crying came to an end, but they remained in their embrace, neither wanting to let go of the other.

"Dipper, there's just one more thing I wanna say sorry for", Mabel said in what was almost a whisper.

"Whatever it is, I don't care", Dipper said, and he still meant it. Nothing mattered anymore besides the fact that she was okay.

"It still needs saying", she said. "I… I'm sorry for getting upset at you about your apprenticeship. I was just… I was just being selfish. If I could just have been happy for you instead of flipping out, none of this would have happened".

"Mabel, it's okay".

"No, it's not okay, I should have supported you. I'm so sorry for trying to stop you following your dreams, I should have just stood behind you. I shouldn't have got upset over it".

"No, Mabel, I mean it. It's okay. You had a terrible day and… that was some pretty terrible news to top it all off. You freaked out, you panicked, and that's okay. You weren't being selfish at all, you were just upset and in distress. And what happened after that was Bill's fault, all of it was. Everything bad that's ever happened to our family is his fault. But he's gone now. And I'm telling you Mabel, I'm not upset at you just because you freaked out".

"I won't stand in the way of your dreams ever again though", Mabel said. "I promise".

"Thanks", Dipper said. "But for now, let's not rush through life. Let's stick together".

"It's okay if you still wanna stay with Grunkle Ford", Mabel said, staying stronger than she felt to say it. "It'll be hard, but if that's what makes you happy, if that's what you wanna do with your life, then I'll support you all the way".

"I don't want to", Dipper said.

"You don't have to stay with me Dipper. If… If you want to move on and follow your dreams, I'll support you and be happy for you".

"I know, but I don't want to Mabel", Dipper said. "I really don't think it's what I wanna do with my life honestly. I've had plenty of time to think about it, and it's really not my dream at all. The supernatural stuff in this town, it just… It consumed me Mabel. I was obsessed with it, obsessed with finding answers. When I look back at this summer, I'm not so sure I want to keep that up. After everything we just went through, I think I wanna take a nice long break from the supernatural to say the least. And most of all, I'm just not ready to be apart from you Mabel, for the sake of both of us. I really, really don't wanna be apart from you, I know that for sure now. I mean, I couldn't spend one night in a different room while we were both still here in the Shack, you think I could manage being an entire state away?" he said, laughing lightly.

"Good point", she said, giggling.

"So you know what, let's just enjoy the years ahead of us Mabel. Let's stay together".

"But we can't stick together forever", Mabel said, a slight sadness to her voice.

"Yeah", Dipper said, "but even when we're off living our own lives in the future, that doesn't mean we have to stop being best friends".

"Yeah", Mabel agreed. "And who knows, we may still live really near to each other".

"Exactly", Dipper said. "But for now, let's just enjoy the time we have, because we've still got plenty of years together yet. I don't wanna be apart from you sis, and frankly, after all that, I'm SURE I don't wanna be great uncle Ford's apprentice. To be honest I don't think a future with the paranormal is one that I want".

"You don't have to give it up", Mabel said.

"Yeah, but I think… I think it's best it stays a hobby rather than a career. To be honest, I don't think a future in research is what I really want anyway, and I don't wanna end up being consumed by it again. That never lead to anything good".

"Well, that's good to hear then", Mabel said.

Truth be told, Mabel was glad of it. She wouldn't have stood in the way of Dipper's dreams had he wanted to stay, but she was glad that he wanted to stay together too. She wasn't ready to be apart from him as it was, but especially not after all of the chaos of the past few days.

"I'm glad you're okay", Dipper said, tightening the embrace yet again and kissing her forehead. "Really, really glad".

"You too, you big dork", Mabel said, letting go of his shirt and wrapping her arms around him. "I love you Dipper".

"I love you too Mabel", Dipper said.

After that, they exchanged no more words. They remained in their embrace, each comforted by the presence of the other. Dipper, despite the worry and paranoia that the Weirdmageddon and Bill had left him with, felt safe and warm here with Mabel, relieved and happy, happier than he had ever been before, that she was okay, and for the first time, he relaxed and began to drift into a comfortable sleep, content with the feeling that it was all going to be okay.

* * *

A few hours later, Stan awoke from his deep sleep. Still feeling far too many aches and pains from the last few days, he painfully made his way downstairs. By the looks of the sky, the evening had come. Stan entered the living room, thinking of perhaps putting on some TV, before he noticed that his chair was occupied. Beneath a blanket, his niece and nephew were fast asleep, their arms wrapped tightly around one another. Stan smiled at the sight of them. No kid should have gone through what they went through, but he had a feeling that as long as the two of them had each other, they were going to be alright.

"Sleep tight, kiddos", he whispered affectionately.


End file.
